What’s new for Belleville high school students in 2025-26?
Back-to-school season is often marketed as a time of new beginnings.
Belleville Township High School District 201 abides by that idea, as it’s ushering in some big changes for the 2025-26 school year.
From debuting its new 15,000-square-foot expansion to its Center for Academic and Vocational Excellence to athletic facility upgrades at Belleville East, here’s what freshmen can expect when they start school on Wednesday, Aug. 13 and what all other high schoolers can expect when they return on Thursday, Aug. 14.
CAVE Annex opens for student use
The Center for Academic and Vocational Excellence, or The CAVE, provides in-demand vocational training to its students and also houses the district’s alternative education center. The new $3.6 million CAVE Annex is separate from the main building at 7645 Magna Drive on the west side of Belleville.
This year, because of the extra space, District 201 is adding automation, manufacturing and robotics programs. It also is enhancing its existing aviation and health care offerings.
In response to growing interest in e-sports, the district is moving the after-school activity from the main CAVE building to The Annex this school year.
E-sports takes up one of four sections of The Annex. The largest section is dedicated to aviation programming and boasts a retired corporate jet that allows students to explore the components of a fully-completed aircraft, CAVE Director Jacob Strausbaugh has told the BND.
The CAVE’s health care programming also has a designated spot in The Annex, which sports a digital cadaver tool, and space for the district’s brand-new automation, manufacturing and robotics programming.
In fall 2023, the district issued $7 million in general obligation bonds, and the following summer transferred roughly $5 million of this bond revenue to the capital projects fund. Some of this was used for The Annex.
Belleville East High School has fresh turf for fall 2025
Roughly $984,000 of this bond revenue was used to replace the artificial turf at Belleville East’s stadium this summer, which is now ready to welcome students at school’s start.
District 201’s Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Dustin Bilbruck described the turf as the hub of Belleville East’s afterschool activities — it’s used for football, marching band, boys and girls soccer, girls flag football, girls lacrosse and PE classes.
Bilbruck explained the process of replacing the turf was “like taking up an old area rug and putting a new one down.” The district removed the original artificial surface and installed the new surfacing. Byrne & Jones Construction completed the project.
The district first installed East’s artificial turf in the winter of 2014-2015 knowing it would have to be replaced every 10-15 years as part of routine maintenance. This is more cost effective than maintaining the original grass turf, Bilbruck said.
Eventually, Belleville West’s turf will have to be replaced too, he said.
Originally, the district hoped to work on East’s track this summer as well, but there wasn’t enough time to both replace the turf and respray the track. Track work should be completed by the start of boys and girls track seasons, around mid-March, Bilbruck said.
The district also added air conditioning this summer to the one wing at Belleville West, and the only spot in the entire district, that didn’t have it. They used the aforementioned bond revenue to do so, Bilbruck said.
Belleville high schools see admin shifts
Belleville high school students will be greeted by some new administration when they come back to school.
This school year will mark Marshaun Warren’s first as District 201 superintendent. Warren has a decade of experience with the district and was most recently its assistant superintendent of human resources and diversity, equity and inclusion.
Warren succeeds former District 201 Superintendent Brian Mentzer, who is returning to Millstadt Consolidated Community School District 160 as assistant superintendent for fall 2025 and will become the district’s superintendent in the spring.
Joe Rujawitz is Belleville East High School’s new principal. Last school year, Rujawitz was the school’s associate principal and Andrea Gannon was its principal. Gannon is now the district’s director of human resources.
Here are other administrators with new roles for the 2025-26 school year:
- Krysten Harres - Belleville East associate principal
- Rashida McKinley - Belleville East assistant principal
- Staccy Lampkin - Belleville West assistant principal
- Brent Whipple - The CAVE’s assistant principal
- Stacy Louderman - District 201 director of special education
- Soune Ursani - District 201 director of curriculum
